Ozurdex® has been approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to treat patients with macular oedema (swelling of the back part of the eye) due to uveitis, branch retinal vein occlusion, central retinal vein occlusion or diabetic macular oedema.
The retina is the light sensitive tissue that lines the back of your eye and is responsible for your eyesight. Macular oedema, a swelling and thickening of the macula, is caused by one of the eye disorders listed above. The macula is a small area in the centre of your retina that contains a rich collection of nerve cells sensitive to light, fine detail, and colour.
When the small vessels in the macula leak fluid, this forms a macular oedema or swelling of the retina, as well as causing loss of blood flow and inflammation. All these processes lead to painless reduction of vision in the affected eye.
Ozurdex can also be used to treat patients with uveitis (inflammation of the inside of the eye) without macular oedema. Ozurdex® contains dexamethasone, which is slowly released into your eye as the implant dissolves (biodegrades).
Dexamethasone belongs to a group of drugs called potent corticosteroids, and has been shown to reduce inflammation, oedema, and thickening of the retina, therefore improving vision.
There is an approximately 50% chance of your vision improving with this treatment. If you decide to undergo treatment, both you and your eye doctor will need to sign and date the informed consent form. You will receive a copy to take home with you.
Ozurdex® is a small biodegradable implant which is administered via a special applicator with a needle. It is delivered as an ophthalmic intravitreal injection. This means that it is injected into your eye.
Sufficient local anaesthetic is administered prior to the Ozurdex® injection to ensure that you do not feel pain during the injection. The local anaesthetic is given in the form of drops or subconjunctival anaesthetic injection (under the outer covering layer on top of the white of your eye). This local anaesthetic injection is essentially painless.
All drugs can cause side effects in some people. Some of these side effects may be caused by the injection procedure and not the Ozurdex® implant itself–for example, bleeding on the surface of the eye, difficulties in seeing clearly, a feeling of spots in front of the eye (including ‘floaters’), eye pain, seeing flashes of light, swelling or scratching on the surface of the eye, a feeling of looking through mist or fog, redness of the eye, decrease in eye pressure.
You may experience temporary visual blurring after receiving an injection and therefore should not drive or use machinery until your vision is recovered. In the days following injection with Ozurdex®, you may experience some of the common side effects listed below.
For your information, we have also included the uncommon side effects associated with this treatment, however it is important to remember that these are rare.
You can continue normal activities once you have been discharged from hospital. Please use the post-procedure antibiotic drops as advised.
If you experience eye pain or loss of vision, please come immediately to the Moorfields A&E department in City Road for a further examination (open 24/7 for emergency eye problems only). You should also seek immediate care if your eye becomes red, sensitive to light, painful, or develops a change in vision.
Author: Mr Peter Addison, consultant ophthalmologist, medical retina and uveitis services
Revision number: 4
Approved: February 2022
Review date: February 2025
Inflammation of the middle layer of the eye
In diabetic macular oedema, blood vessels leak fluid into the retina.
A retinal vein occlusion occurs when a blockage forms in a retinal vein.